


Take These Broken Wings (And Learn to Fly)

by thesleepingsatellite



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003), Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, Episode: s02e16 Original Song, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-18
Updated: 2014-08-18
Packaged: 2018-02-13 17:28:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2159067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesleepingsatellite/pseuds/thesleepingsatellite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After their arrival on Earth, Gaeta and Hoshi settle down as teachers in small-town Ohio, where Gaeta is surprised to find himself giving relationship advice to one of the students at Dalton Academy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take These Broken Wings (And Learn to Fly)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lls_mutant](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lls_mutant/gifts).



> This is an alternate-universe story wherein Dee lived, Gaeta did not lead a mutiny and survived to see the Fleet find Earth, which is present-day Earth instead of the Earth of 150,000 years ago. Set during Glee episode 2x16, "Original Song".
> 
> This story uses lls_mutant's [About Time](http://archiveofourown.org/works/149632) as backstory for Gaeta and Hoshi's relationship. It's a wonderful story, and well worth reading. ♥
> 
> Many thanks to A for beta reading assistance.

The planet below him was more beautiful than he ever could have hoped. Deep, azure oceans and fertile green plains were shrouded by white clouds that encased the planet like a veil. Looking upon it, Felix felt a great weight lift from him shoulders, and he allowed his mind to open to the possibility that this is a place where he might be happy. It felt strange - Felix hadn't been truly happy in years, not since long before the attacks on the Colonies. 

An arm snaked around his waist, and he felt a body fit itself behind him and a chin come to rest upon his shoulder. He smiled and looked up to see Louis' dark brown eyes reflected in the window before him.

"So, Felix," Louis began, his voice low and sweet near Felix's ear. "Now that we've found a home, what do you intend to do you with your life?"

Felix turned within Louis' grasp and brought a hand to his jaw. "You know," he said, pressing a kiss to Louis' lips. "I kind of want to stay put for a while. What do you think?"

Felix felt Louis' grin against his lips. "Sounds good to me," Louis said. "If I hadn't gone into the service, I always thought that maybe I would teach."

Felix laughed, and it was a joyous sound that echoed around the observation deck. _Teach_. The thought had never occurred to him before. And why not? Their exhausting run from the Cylons was finally over and the remnants of the Colonial Fleet had stumbled upon a planet, one that was improbably full of humans who had welcomed the Fleet as refugees. Felix had his whole life ahead of him, and he intended to spend every minute of it with Louis Hoshi, if he'd let him.

"Teaching," Felix said, running a hand along his jaw. "I think that I could get behind that."

Louis leaned in and pressed a full, lush kiss to his lips. "Right now," he said, his voice low and husky. "I think I'd prefer if you got behind me."

\---

_Seven Years Later_

"So, I was thinking we could go to Asia this summer," Louis said from where he stood at the kitchen counter assembling their sandwiches. "Maybe Japan. Did you know that in the Japanese language, the word Hoshi means _star_?"

Felix smiled. "I did know that, actually. I think it's a rather appropriate name for a man from the stars, don't you?" Louis looked up at him and Felix winked and took a sip of his coffee.

"If only all of the Colonials were named Hoshi," Louis joked. "Then we'd all be perfectly representative of our origins. As it is, your name only seems mildly foreign to people around here."

"I will gladly take your name any time you want me to. Well," Felix frowned. "Any time that the government here decides that it's okay for two men to marry. Remind me again why we chose to settle in Ohio?"

Louis sprang to the fruit bowl on the other side of the counter to grab a couple of apples. "The pastoral lifestyle, the amazing salary, and the opportunity to mold the young minds of tomorrow?" He raised his eyebrows at Felix, juggling the apples before dropping them in their lunch bags.

"Oh, right," Felix said with a wry grin, smiling as he sipped his coffee, which was rich and sweet, far better than what passed for coffee back on the Galactica. "That's why."

Seven years after their arrival on this planet, and the similarities between twentieth-century Earth and Colonial society never ceased to amaze him. They had _coffee_ , and drove cars, and spoke on telephones, and most startling of all, one of the primary Earth languages was almost identical to the Caprican Standard dialect. Gaius Baltar, who had been adopted by Earth's media and scientific community as the Fleet's leading scientific resource, had cited theories such as _parallel evolution_. Felix wasn't convinced. Though he had nowhere near Baltar's level of learning - he only had an undergraduate degree in biogenetics from New Caprica University - he couldn't help but feel that there was something lacking in Baltar's buzz-word laden, pop-culture friendly explanations. 

If Felix had been a religious man, he would have said this planet's similarities to the Colonies were the work of the Gods. And perhaps they were, for what else had driven Kara Thrace's hand when she had keyed in the jump coordinates to bring them here?

These days, Felix didn't dwell on it much. His life had changed and he tended to concentrate on more mundane matters, such as grading AP biology tests, finding the perfect birthday present for Louis, and deciding which part of this beautiful blue marble of a planet they were going to visit next.

"Anyway," Louis continued as he wrapped up the sandwiches, and assembled their lunches into matching insulated bags. "I was thinking that tonight after work, maybe we could sit down together and look at some travel websites, see if we can get some deals?"

"Sounds good to me," Felix said. "I've wanted to visit China since we got here and Thailand too. Maybe we should see if some of the others want to come with us?"

"That's a great idea," Louis said with a grin. "Maybe Dee? The last time we toured with her and James was five years ago."

Felix nodded. "I'll email her today." Not long after landing on Earth, Dee had fallen in love with a one of the officials who had been acted as a liaison between the American government and the Fleet. When the Colonials had settled upon Earth, Dee had opted to move to Washington D.C. to live with him, and they had married soon after. She lived far enough away that Felix didn't see her often, though they corresponded regularly.

"Anyway, you almost ready to go, sweetheart?" Louis said, placing Felix's lunch bag on the counter. "I have a meeting with some students from the Math Club before class starts today, so if you can get ready in the next five minutes we can drive in together."

"Sure," Felix said. "Let me just grab my bag."

\---  
It was spring, and the sun was shining brightly as they drove to work. Felix was forever grateful that the weather patterns on this planet were better than those of New Caprica, which had been a cold, desolate, and dreary place. The tilt of the planet gave the hemispheres a wonderful oscillation that Earth humans called _seasons_ , and they reminded Felix of the agricultural cycles of Aerilon. Louis drove the car through Westerville's quiet streets, humming along to the meaningless pop song playing on the wireless, and they chatted in quiet tones about their upcoming day at work.

They drove through the massive gated entrance to the Dalton Academy, and Louis parked their car in the teachers' lot before hopping out to open Felix's passenger door for him. Louis extended a hand to assist Felix out of the car and onto his feet, and though Felix was perfectly mobile on his own, he accepted the help from his partner gladly - it was one of the little rituals they had that he loved. Not long after the Fleet had arrived on Earth, doctors had outfitted Felix with a new prosthetic leg, a state-of-the art device that was tailored to his build. Years later, Felix could move around easily without a cane, but Louis genuinely loved assisting him whenever possible, and it made Felix happy to let him.

"You good?" Louis asked, once Felix was stable on his feet. 

Felix nodded. "Right as rain," he said. 

"Okay, well, I gotta hustle then - meeting in five. I'll see you after classes, sweetheart," Louis said, pressing a quick kiss to Felix's lips before departing. Felix smiled as he watched Louis hurry away, and then followed him into the school, walking at a slightly slower pace than his partner.

The interior of Dalton Academy was opulent, decorated in marble, rich dark wood, tapestries, and leather furnishings. It reminded Felix of the pictures he had seen of Caprica City's private schools, attended by the rich and indulged children of Caprica's elite. The public schools on Earth had borne a stronger similarity to the ones that he himself had attended, and he and Louis had seriously considered teaching at one. Ultimately, it was Dalton's generous salary offer – as a top-ranked school, Dalton saw acquiring Louis and Felix as instructors as a potent status symbol - and guarantee of a harassment-free work place for gay and bisexual teachers and students had been what drew them to the institution.

Earth was indeed a paradise in many ways, Felix had learned; however, it wasn't without its problems, those problems ran deep. Many Colonial citizens had faced difficult adjustments when integrating into Earth society, and learning that their new home was several centuries behind the Colonies with respect to the bigotry towards people of different races, sexualities, and religions was one of the more challenging aspects of this. Upon landing on Earth, Felix had learned a new word: _homophobia_. His relationship with Louis, would only have been frowned upon in the Fleet because of fraternization regulations; however, by the time Louis and Felix became a couple nobody much cared about the regs anymore. It was a shock to discover that their relationship was disapproved of by many in the United States, and, as Felix understood it, was considered criminal in other parts of the planet. It saddened Felix to know that as technologically advanced as the humans of Earth were, they were still very far behind Colonial society in other respects. His one hope was that, by teaching the students that Dalton administration billed as "The Leaders of Tomorrow", he and Louis could help to affect the change they wanted to see in the world.

Felix's route to his office took him past the lounge that the school's choir - the Warblers - used as their practice room, and he'd quietly observed their performances on more than one occasion. Today, instead of the group's voices joined together in a seamless soundscape, one sweet, clear voice reached Felix's ear, echoing through the otherwise empty hallway.

_"Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly..."_

Felix paused outside the room and memories of different sort of blackbird - one cast in steel and clad in flat black paint - flooded to the forefront of his mind. He closed his eyes and remembered Tyrol slaving over the ship at odd hours of the night, Laura Roslin teasing the group during its christening by threatening to break one of the last bottles of Virgon Champagne over the hull, the cackle from Starbuck when she revealed that she'd piloted the ship right in front of Apollo's nose without him realizing it. 

It seemed like a lifetime ago.

When he glanced into the Warblers’ lounge, he saw a student - the new kid, Kurt, who was pale and slender as a reed - standing before his peers, dressed in black. The group looked solemn as their voices joined his, rising in a gentle swell to fill the room. Amidst them, Blaine Anderson - the boy who frequently led the group in song - sat uncharacteristically still, a shell-shocked expression on his face. Felix followed Blaine's line of sight to find his gaze directed at Kurt, and he thought he recognized the play of emotions on the boy's face: the naked awe and want that he saw there reminded him of his own feelings for Louis, of how he'd felt when their relationship had first begun to unfold.

For a fraction of a second, the boy's eyes darted away from Kurt to meet his own, and a weak smile crossed Blaine's features before he returned his eyes to Kurt's and joined the song. Feeling as though he had witnessed something that perhaps he shouldn't have, something deeply private, Felix cast his eyes over the room once more before turning to make his way to his office, eager to get the day under way.

\---

Midday, after the lunch period, Felix heard a knock on his office door.

"Yes?" He looked up to see the boy from this morning, the one who'd worn the expression of pure infatuation on his face. Blaine hovered uncertainly in the door frame. He wasn't in any of Felix's classes - Felix taught AP biology to juniors and seniors, and this boy was only a sophomore - and so Felix couldn't think of any reason why he may want to talk to him. 

"Mr. Gaeta, do you have a moment, sir?" 

Felix smiled at Blaine's oddly formal tones. "Of course, Blaine. Come on in and take a seat."

Blaine moved to sit in the leather chair on the other side of his desk. 

"Now," Felix said. "What can I help you with? Are you interested in taking AP biology next year?"

"Yes, well. My dad wouldn't have it any other way - he's bound and determined that I become a doctor. But," Blaine said, taking steadying a breath. "That's not why I'm here."

"Oh?" 

"Where you come from, sir," Blaine paused, pointing upward, as people were wont to do when speaking with anybody from the Fleet. "Same sex relationships are considered normal, am I correct about that?"

Felix nodded. "Well, yes they are." He allowed himself a little smile. "The only worry that Mr. Hoshi and I had when we first became a couple was that it was against military regulations. But other than that, there was nothing standing in our way. Citizens from the Colonies loved who they wanted, and little things such as gender or race didn't matter. They hadn't for centuries."

"Centuries," Blaine said. "Does that mean it wasn't always that way?"

Felix shook his head. "No. A long time ago, people were persecuted for loving people of their own gender. But our society changed, became more accepting and tolerant." He smiled, and continued, "Yours will, too. It already is. Schools like Dalton are proof of that."

Blaine nodded. "Dalton is amazing, but not all schools are like this. There's a boy, Kurt. The school he came from is really rough, and he went through a lot - I mean, _a lot_ \- before he came here."

"He's the one who was singing this morning?"

"He's the one," Blaine nodded, and then his voice dropped. "He's the one." He looked up at Felix then. "Mr. Gaeta, how did you know? About Mr. Hoshi, I mean."

Felix paused before answering, contemplating the amount of detail he should go into when discussing his love life with a student. "Well," he said. "It all started with a Pyramid game."

"Pyramid?" Blaine's eyebrows drew together. "That's that game that you Colonials play that's like basketball, right?"

"Kind of. Sports aren't really my thing, and I think that Louis, Mr. Hoshi, knew that. But he asked me to join him and his friends anyway." Felix allowed a wistful smile to creep over his face. "I was going through a rough period, and I think he wanted to make me feel better about myself. He was always looking out for me."

"So you guys were friends first?"

Felix nodded. "Yeah, we were friends, though I had been falling him for a long time before I realized it. I was hung up on somebody else - somebody who couldn't return my feelings - for so long that I wasn't able to see that the man I would spend the rest of my life with was right in front of me all along."

"Oh," Blaine said, an unidentifiable emotion crossing his face. 

"Yeah," Felix said, his eyes becoming unfocused as he remembered encountering Louis in the _Galactica's_ observation lounge the night of the boxing matches. "Then came a moment when I said to myself, _oh_. There you are. I've been looking for you forever."

Blaine smiled, and his feelings for the other boy, Kurt, radiated from his face. "That sounds really romantic."

"It was," Felix said, remembering the way his stomach had flipped when Louis had kissed him for the first time in front of his rack back on the _Galactica_. It wasn't the most romantic environment, but the mere fact that it had been Louis kissing him, _finally_ , after Felix had wanted him for so long had made it perfect. "It wasn't all like that, though. Life tended to be difficult when you were on the run from an army of crazy space robots," Felix finished with a wink. He'd spent more time than he wished rehashing the despair and trauma of those years and these days he found the best way to avoid maudlin reminiscing was to make a light joke of it. "But we made it through."

"And now you're here," Blaine said, with a grin on his face, rising to his feet. "Giving relationship advice to high school kids."

Felix grinned. "I like to think about it as sharing my knowledge and wisdom with the leaders of tomorrow, but have it your way. Anything else I can help you with?"

"No, sir. Thank you, sir," Blaine said, moving to push his chair in. "This talk really helped."

"Glad I could be of assistance, Mr. Anderson," Felix said. "Have a great day,"

"You too," Blaine called as he exited the room with a spring in his step that hadn't been present before.

Felix gazed out the window, murmuring, "Ah, young love," before returning his attention to the senior class's afternoon lab assignment. Love truly was a many splendored thing, to quote an Earth songwriter, capable of bringing a glorious smile to a young man's face, and perhaps, of saving a life. In the darkest hours of the night, as Felix lay in his comfortable bed beside Louis, he wondered if it was his love for Louis that had stopped him from making what could have been some terrible decisions, and thus saved his life. There, but for the grace of the gods, goes Felix Gaeta.

\---

At the end of the day, Felix packed his belongings and left his office, closing the door behind him. The school's hallways were quieter now that school was finished for the day. The path to the entranceway lead him past the study, a richly decorated room that provided a quiet place for students to work, augmented by a coffee service during the day. He heard a now-familiar voice from within and he paused just outside the door to glance into the room. Blaine and Kurt sat at a table littered with several clear plastic boxes trimmed with metal, bottles of glitter glue, and other items that Felix could not begin to identify. The boys at the table paid the items no mind, however; they only had eyes for each other as they sat with their hands clasped and their heads bowed together. Kurt, Felix noted, was gazing at Blaine with an expression of open wonder and adoration, and they were discussing music, though Felix suspected that truly, they were speaking of love.

Felix smiled and turned from the room, his heart light as he made his way to meet Louis.

Louis looked up from the phone in his hands as Felix approached, and a wide smile spread across his features. "You look like you had a good day," he said, as he greeted Felix with a kiss. 

"I did," Felix replied. 

"So what got you so happy, hmmm?"

"Love," Felix said before kissing Louis again. "Just love."

//END


End file.
